Vhf - Use?

[lakeeriehigh]

As a side note one used to have to obtain a liscense to opperate a VHF, and in many countries that is still true, but just like the old GPS error, the government thought better of it, and determined that more lives will be, and are saved by more active VHF units on board, even if a few fools, reprobates, and uninformed users must be tollerated over the air waves.

[Boasun]

The difference between a VHF and a Cell Phone?
Do you know the phone number of the captain of that boat in the distance? Not likely!!
But if you have a VHF on board more-n-likely you will be able to raise them on the radio. Plus you can listen to the vessel traffic and have an idea of what is happening in your area as far as commercial vessels are concerned.

[sailingdog]

The main difference between cellphones and VHF for marine use is that one is a point-to-point service and if your party doesn't answer, you're basically screwed, and the other is broadcast service, which gives a lot of different people near you a chance to hear you and respond. If my boat were on fire or someone I cared about fell overboard, I know which one I'd want to use... the one that maximizes my chances of being heard.

VHF units are also often water resistant....which generally can't be said for most cell phones. The USCG can use RDFs to get an idea of where you are at with a VHF broadcast, while pinpointing the location of a cellphone user can be much more difficult. If pinpointing a cell phone user were all that easy, why are they having so much trouble with E911???

[Boasun]

SD I did say the same thing...But with a tad more tongue in cheek about it.

[sailingdog]

Yes, but some people are rather thick and not able to understand things unless you make it very clear... they're the ones that should be carrying signs...

Originally Posted by Boasun

SD I did say the same thing...But with a tad more tongue in cheek about it.

[RAGTIMEDON]

If you find the chatter on ch 16 annoying, think about the Coast Guard stations in the midwest. There are not many of them on the Mississippi, so they have "repeater stations" on the river. The coasties in Keokuk Iowa hear all the chatter on the river all the way from St Louis MO to Davenport Iowa on both 16 (the emergency and hailing channel) and 13 (the working channel used by barge towboats, lift bridges, and locks.) In that 300 mile area I believe there are 18 locks, usually 50 or more towboats, a half dozen or more Coast Guard Auxiliary boats, and on a pleasant weekend I wouldn't even guess how many pleasure craft! I find it amazing they can understand anything or maintain their sanity! But I know they do, because I hear them respond. The other half of the safety thing is --Know your location! I heard a distress call on channel 16 one day for a heart attack on "Bikini Island." There is no such island on the river charts, it is just a nickname given to a sandy island where the local girls congregate, and I'll wager the same nickname is applied to a couple dozen islands on this 1500 mile creek! Of course the Coasties in Keokuk wasted precious time trying to figure out which of 100 repeater stations carried the call! The caller had no idea where he was. There are actually mile markers on the riverbank; my marina is a UMR 218.3 The UMR designation means Upper Mississippi River. The split between upper and lower is at the mouth of the Ohio, near Cairo IL. It is 218.3 statute miles to there. We don't use nautical miles, this river is controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers, and knots are beyond their grasp!

[Boasun]

And you would need a computer to count the number of "Sand Islands" and "Rock Points" there are in these United States. Or any other English speaking countries.
So on the VHF be more precise as to where your position is at... Lat & Long would help immensely.
And shift to a working channel after you contacted your friend on Ch 16.

[sailingdog]

Egg Island, Sow and Pigs, Long Island, are also all common names.

RTD-

And I thought we had it bad here in Buzzards Bay. With the VHF setup on my boat, I can generally here traffic as far east as Cape Cod Canal control and as far southwest as Cuttyhunk Island on a regular basis, with occasional traffic from Block Island on good days.

[Boasun]

The minium license for operating a VHF is the 'Limited Radio Operator's Permit.' You should have at lease one person on board, Preferredly the Captain who has it. Then a ship's radio station license for the vessel. These are easy to come by. Just talk to FCC (Federal Communications Comission).
I know that for commercial vessel it is a $10,000 fine if you don't have the station license. I don't think that they are so draconian for private yachts.

And remember that we do not use citizen band lingo or codes (police or otherwise) on the VHF. If you are in doubt of the proper protocol then use the Pub 'International Code of Signals' pub 102 to find out what are the correct protocols.

[Omatako]

Originally Posted by chucklesR

As a multihull owner I'm excluded from partcipating any more in my local yacht club's friday night races, so I often serve as commitee boat ..

They don't let you race because they don't want a big fat hull with a short LOL blocking the course on the windward legs

Where I sail we have a series of frequencies for boaties to communicate with the CG and another set to communicate with each other. This thankfully leaves 16 open and quiet for emergencies and leaving your set switched on isn't a constant stream of babble wrecking the peace. We also have a weather channel that broadcasts weather updates 24/7 which is useful.

There was another post that referred to the radio being able to monitor two frequencies. This is just a way of making sure that the babble never stops because when one lot of inane rubbish stops, the radio goes searching for another.

We have a routine of calling CG whenever we leave our marina, log a trip report and update it whenever we move from one place to another. That way if you don't turn up as scheduled they had a good idea about where to start looking.

I also agree with an earlier post that when an emergency hits you and you don't have a proper handle on the mayday or pan pan process, just key the mike and call for help in whatever way you can, it'll come.

Andre